WOW! What a Pentecosty and Mother's
Day
Grandmothers were the stars of the 2008
Mother's Day. They were honored with a ponnada and treated with a
sumptuous lunch. They also gave advice to other younger mothers about
the secret of their long married lives.
Congratulations, Sabu!
Sabu had been inducted to serve in the
Holy alter on Sunday, May 11. I missed the look on Sabu's face when
achen put the kuppayam on him! Congratulations, Sabu. Does that make
Shirly now the kunju kochamma?
Congratulations, Madhu!
Madhu has graduated from Miami University
of Ohio with a double degree. Pramila cannot believe that Madhu is in
College yet. She thought that he is graduating from High School. Pramila,
we are all getting old!!
Photo of the year
This definitely is my favorite to be the
photo of the year. (It now replaces the photo of Jacob and Sheela at the
picnic. Can you see how many kids are around Shajy? Hint: Look under
him! How did Sara get in there? Click on the photo to see a larger
version.
Congratulations Jerry!
Jerry has passed his professional
examination and will be looking forward to exploring new pastures. The
word of his passing examination reached us appropriately just after the
Holy Qurbana on Saturday, April 12. Jerry, as a true Christian, had come
to church on Easter Day and asked achen to pray. And he wanted to make
sure that he appreciates what God has done to him and his family.
Congratulations Sona!! (You should have seen Sona's beaming face when
she heard the news.) We are proud of you all.
Power of Miracles
After Fr. Stephen Philip's visit to
Cleveland on April 12, achen shared the following story while we went to
visit Sunny and family (Sunny's mother's 40th day memorial was conducted
after the service.)
Stephen achen was very active in
ecumenical/evangelism work when he was in Kerala (he still does lot of
it through his internet activities, etc. even now.) At one time achen
was in Madhya Pradesh near Bhopal in India. They were conducting
classes. Two young persons from Kerala joined him at that time. This got
the attention of some local RSS people and police came to investigate.
Achen's assistants started shaking seeing the police as they have heard
of the police atrocities at the police station. The police came and
asked achen what they are doing. Achen didn't want to tell a lie so he
said "we are Christian missionaries." They were promptly arrested, put
on a police jeep and was being transported to the police station. On the
way (achen was not sure how that happened, as he had his eyes closed and
he was praying.), the jeep flipped and, before he knew it, achen was
standing outside leaning on the overturned jeep! The circle inspector
came and questioned achen and he freed all of them promptly. (He
probably didn't want another accident!)
St. Gregorios Church Remembers H.G.
Makarios
During the Holy Qurbana conducted on
Saturday, March 8, 2008 a special 'dhoopa prarthana' (prayer with
incense) was conducted to pray for the departed bishop H.G. Thomas Mar
Makarios, Metrpolitan in charge of the Canada, UK, and Europe Diocese of
the Indian Orthodox Church and a Senior Metropolitan of the American
Diocese of IOC. During the condolence meeting held immediately following
the service, Dr. Jacob Mathew recollected his fond memories of the long
association with H.G. Mar Makarios. Thirumeni had been to Wooster
College around 26 years years ago, when the late Paulose Mar Gregorios
thirumeni had conducted a holy qurbana as part of a summer course he
taught there. Makarios thirumeni also was very close to St. Thomas
Orthodox Church in Detroit and participated actively in programs there
including the first funeral, first marriage, as well as the dedication
of the first church building in Southfield. Jacob said his interest in
our church prayers during the liturgy, especially the Promeon and Sedara,
was kindled when, during a service in Detroit St. Thomas, Makarios
thirumeni read a part of the promeon prayer and stopped at a passage,
stating that, "Do not punish the sheep for the transgression of the
shepherd." Thirumeni read the passage, stopped; and read it again so
people paid attention to that passage. Later, in a lunch meeting at the
residence of Fr. Philip Jacob he had an opportunity to talk to HG in
depth about the richness of our prayers. People who attended the
marriage ceremonies conducted by thirumeni will never forget his sermons
that are interspersed with practical advise on relationship issues,
wisdom, as well as humor.
Jacob pointed out that thirumeni's
funeral in London was attended by all major church heads. An additional
observation was the participation of 3 bishops from the Jacobite church
at Thirumeni's "nagari kanikkal" service and at the funeral. He said we
lost a great bishop, but we can be sure that he will be there to
intercede for us.
Makarios Thirumeni News
Congratulations Shaji Thomas
Saturday, March 8, 2008 was a very
special day for Shaji Thomas and family. First, it was Shaji's birthday.
So, Shibi had prepared a great "payasam" for the congregation.
But more importantly, it was the day when
Shaji was elevated to the honor of serving in the alter. Interestingly,
Shaji was pretty cool; but Shibi was very nervous as to how Shaji will
handle all the readings. The kids handling the marvasa was proud to show
him when to ring the bell etc.! Shaji's addition will fill the much
needed gap of an assistant who can read malayalam during the qurbana.
Welcome Shaji.
Digging Out From the Snow
As we all know, Saturday, March 8, was
not a day for feeble minded people to venture out. When Jacob (Mathew)
brought achen to the chapel, the parking lot and driveway was not
ploughed and there was no way to know where the driveway was. Well, he
did guessed wrong and the vehicle got stuck in the lawn under 3-4 feet
of snow! The van was left there till the end of the service and everyone
went out to rescue the van. It was not an easy task. The security at the
college removed the surrounding snow and lent a shovel. Everyone took
turns in shoveling snow from under the van and near the tires. The
college security put bags of salt under the van; but all in vain. When
AAA was called, they said due to the emergency in Cuyahoga County they
cannot respond till Sunday.
We were all set to leave the van there
and pitch a ride with Sam Mathew when Achen said he want one chance. He
prayed and then said, "move the van." Jacob Thomas, drove the van right
out!!! Do you need any more proof for the power of prayer?
Apart from experiencing the power of
prayer and faith, this incident also provided all of us to do some team
work and "male bonding." Women, in the mean time, were in the chapel
listening and studying some new songs. A great way to spend the worst
snowy day in Cleveland!!
Sunny Paul Lost His Beloved Mother
Yesterday (Wednesday, February 20), Sunny
got the dreaded news from his home at the foothills of Western Ghats.
His mother has gone to eternal rest with our Lord. Although for
Christians, death, in no way, means end of anything, but the
beginning of the long life with our Savior, it, nevertheless, is very
hard on us when we lose our loved ones. It gets worse because we feel
the guilt of not being with them in their last moments on the earth. We
share the grief with Sunny and his family on this loss and we pray that
God strengthen them to overcome this loss. Sunny will be leaving today
(Thursday) by the noon flight to Kerala. The funeral is scheduled for
Saturday.
Congratulations to Sabu, Aji and Shaji
In the general body meeting conducted on
Sunday, January 20, 2008, and presided over by
Rev. Fr. Mathew
Vazhakkottam, visiting priest, the members unanimously reelected
Sabu (George Mathew) and Aji Mathew to another term as Secretary and
Treasurer. The members also elected Shaji Thomas (aka Mathew Thomas) to
the managing committee as the at-large-member.
Aji presented the unaudited
accounts for 2007. In spite of the fact that our monthly contributions
do not fully pay for expenses of 2 services per month, we managed to
show a surplus for the year thanks to the shrewd fiscal management of
the current management team combined with generous support of the
members.
Welcome Andrew
We welcome Andrew Jacob
Thomas to the alter team. Andrew was elevated by Fr. Mathew Vazhakkottam
during our service on Sunday, January 20, 2008.
Congratulations Jerry and Sona
Sona gave birth to a baby girl on
Tuesday, Jan 15 at 7:00 PM. Baby's name is Jiya Susan Varghese.
Congratulations new parents!!
See picture of Jiya and her
family here.
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